Kids and (drinking) tea?

Is it a no go,or an occasional ok?

Last week DD1 (5) was complaining of a sore throat so at night before bed i made her a watered down tea with honey and lemon, she loved it.
Last night she asked for a cup of tea before bed, i wasnt too keen on giving her one with honey in it again, as i think the sugar content led to her taking forever to go to sleep last week! so i gave her a watered down peppermint tea instead.

the bag was out of a gift set that i got and didnt have the sugar content ext on it. she really really liked it and keeps asking for it, but i keep saying no as im unsure if its a good thing for kids or not.

Thought and experiences much appreciated

DD1 (5yo) has had very milky tea about once a week since she was about 3. She enjoys it and I don't think the occasional cuppa does any damage. If she is drinking it daily then maybe not - and herbal is different again. I think peppermint tea would be fine, especially if it's very weak.

I don't let my kids drink caffinated teas so they can't drink black, green or white tea but they can have herbal teas like camomile, peppermint and so on. Camomile is great for settling and calming.

:hide: My DD drinks a small cup of tea every few days, or she’ll finish my tea if I don’t drink it fast enough. I/we don't have sugar.

My DD has been having watered down tea in her small tea cup since she was 1.5... she loves it - she maybe has one or2 a week... I dont see any harm at all!

I think I started having tea with my Nan around four(ish), so in my book it's perfectly fine :dunno:


Sent from my iPhone so forgive the speelung misstacks ;)

I don't let my DD have caffeine so tea is a no no for me. It is also a diuretic and I reckon it's hard enough keeping a child hydrated!!

kinda off topic a bit but I had to laugh at my sister yesterday as she told me she makes her dogs a weak cup of tea in the morning too. I cracked up and said no wonder they think they are humans :lol::lol: they dont have sugar though cause she doesnt want to make them fat!

My girls drain the dregs of my cups of tea (mostly herbal, sometimes I have an Earl Grey or other black tea), it doesn't worry me. I've actually considered making chamomile or something a regular part of their routine just to see if I can get them to bed any earlier than usual lol! I do rouse at them if I catch them sipping from leftover coffee cups (I drink a LOT of coffee and never seem to finish a whole one, it goes cold too quick and I end up making a fresh one!), because I make them really strong and they're bouncy enough already without getting a caffeine hit, but I don't mind so much if they drink a bit of tea. I try not to encourage it though, as I worry about them forgetting that tea is generally served boiling hot and scalding themselves with a fresh cup that I'm not keeping an eye on!
I don't think it's a big deal if it's an occasional thing - all things in moderation, imo :)

My boys get it as a treat maybe once aweek. I have tried herbal tea but they dont like that, they love ice tea!
I try limit it to once a week because caffine can inhibit calcium absorbtion (Im sure alittle is fine)
Here I see 3 year olds walking round with 600ml cokes all the time!

My kids do.

Skye Miss Z loves tea. I love Rooibos tea and she has sips of that.

Caffeinated Tea is bad for kids, I can't remember why. Gah. It stops them from absorbing something... is it calcium? I can't remember. My kids don't drink tea. Not unless it's herbal tea. People often think that green tea has no caffeine when it does.

But in saying that I don't let me kids have soda and they've never had cola pass over their lips ;)

I don't believe children should be given caffeine, which is a stimulant drug.

Personally my children don't have tea, and if they did it would be a herbal, caffeine free blend, such as Rooibos :D

My kids don't, but you can buy decaffeinated tea at Coles.

Lipton make a decaf tea which is actually quite tasty - it's what I drank while pregnant.

Lipton decafe tastes the same as normal. DD get her tea made with the tea bag after I have made mine and with most milk and a little hot water, wouldn't think there would be that much actual tea left! FWIW my MCHN. Said it's fine.

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I don't let my DD have caffeine so tea is a no no for me. It is also a diuretic and I reckon it's hard enough keeping a child hydrated!!

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^^ Yeah that ^^ caffine is a big no no in my house for DD who is 22 months.

Saying that though Mayaness makes a gorgeous home brew of Chai with 98% caffine free black tea in it and she mixes honey in and DD loves it. I only let her have the occasional sip and its not something that I make specifically for her to have. When she has had colds I have made her lemon and honey (fresh lemon from the garden) in boiled water and she might have a few sips of that.

Why not make her a warm frothy milk before bed? if you want to put "something" in it what about Malt? you can get little hand frothers if you don't have a coffee machine. It will be better for her too :D

Nae x x

DD is older, but does have the occasional cup of tea with me - I drink all sorts of different leaf teas, she likes my peppermint, berry and lemongrass teas the best. Oh and english breakfast of course, but she gets that one with loads of milk..

She was also a bit of a babycino afficionado from early on. Mmmmm, warm frothed milk with a slight spattering of chocolate powder :)

i have been drinking tea since as early as i remember. i can't see anything wrong with the occassional cup every now and then. hasn't hurt me i don't think

you can get caffeine free in the general lipton, tetley etc etc brands, so maybe you could buy a box of that just for her?
i was always under the impression tea interferred with absorption of iron and caffeine calcium therefore it had a double whammy? dont quote me on that though as i think i just heard it somewhere years ago and have no real idea if its true or not.
but in saying that, i cant see an issue with an occasional cuppa, and if she wants it more regularly you could give her a hot choc instead, thats what we do with dsd as she really likes tea and iced tea

Nae, she has milk before bed every night, she just likes the peppermint tea. will buy some and make sure it has no caffine in it.
tbh i didnt even know tea had caffine in it!:redface:
thanks for the feedback everyone, i did a bit research after i posted this and seemingly the odd cup of uncaffinated/ herbal tea's are ok!

My brother left some coffee chill lying around which DS got his hands on. oh boy. :o
I like that decaf tea too :)

DS1 got DH's mocha mixed up with his hot chocolate once and drank the whole thing before anyone noticed :o
It wasn't pretty. He's terrified of caffeine now lol.

DD2 loves to get hold of my tea, so I have to watch her. Sometimes I will just dip my tea bag into some warm milk for her to fend her off.

Once in a blue moon Kameron will have a cup of tea with one level teaspoon of sugar. He asks for it a fair bit especially if I am making myself one, but I usually say no. Lachlan has had it a few times in his 7 years, and Ashton has tried it and didn't like it.

The NSW Health Department has a caffeine fact sheet that lists caffeine content of various things - it lists cocoa and chocolate as also having caffeine so not sure hot chocolate is a good tea replacement. Personally I think everything in moderation, DD has the occasional bit of chocolate which also has caffeine in it, so the odd sip of tea here and there I don't think is an issue. The caffeine content of tea depends on how strong the brew is and if is quite weak which when DD has it normally is as add lots of milk to cool it down content can be almost as low as decaffeinated tea/coffee.

What How much caffeine? Comments
Instant coffee 60-100 mg per cup The amount of caffeine depends on how much you put in the cup
Fresh coffee 80-350 mg per cup The amount of caffeine depends on:
the type of beans ('Robusta' contains more caffeine than 'Arabica')
the way the coffee is made
how strong the brew is

Decaffeinated coffee 2 - 4 mg per cup The amount of caffeine is usually marked on the packet
Tea 8 - 90 mg per cup Caffeine content depends on how strong the brew is
Cola drinks 35 mg per 250ml serve Cola drinks often contain a lot of sugar too
Cocoa and hot chocolate 10 - 70 mg per cup The amount of caffeine depends on strength of the brew and the other chemicals in the product
Chocolate bars 20 - 60 mg per 200 g bar Chocolate also contains a lot of sugar
Some prescription and over-the-counter medications 20 - 100 mg per dose Some medicines (cough, headache and slimming products) contain caffeine.

DS has herbal tea if he wants it but not coffee or black, or green. If getting to sleep at bedtime is a problem though possibly avoid peppermint just before bed as it is a natural stimulant. Something soothing like camomile would be good before bed. Otherwise honey and lemon but without the tea is good as a hot drink (it is likely that it was the caffeine and not the sugar making her stay awake).

We do warm milk & honey instead.

I was given tea in a bottle as a toddler haha. Love my tea now, have way too much.

I dont buy soft drink but their dad lets them have coke. So i'm a big meanie.

As for tea, my daughter likes it more than my son, they have about one a week. My daughter particularly drank any tea I had lying around, even the last drops, from a very young age. She loves it but we have a very good relationship with water at home, which is the drink of choice.

A girl I new that I'm no longer friends with use to give her kids milky tea in bottles since they where like 8 mths old
I was like wtf are u doing she went on to tell me they like it well they had to be given it to try it however her kids are beautiful and I don't think it did much harm however I would not ever do this to my babies tho I can't
See much harm In a weekly tea, coffee on the other hand ...
I tho would be making it mostly milk and just a bit of colour from the tea